Keystone XL Pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/keystone-xl-pipeline
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 22:50:35 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 22:50:35 -0500The latest news on Keystone XL Pipeline from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-he-would-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline-2016-5Trump says he would approve Keystone XL pipeline if electedhttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-he-would-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline-2016-5
Thu, 26 May 2016 14:57:33 -0400Richard Valdmanis
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/574303a591058428008c45dc-2064-1344/ap_16138833455978 (1).jpg" alt="Donald Trump" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File" data-mce-caption="Donald Trump." /></p><p>BISMARCK, ND (Reuters) - Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would approve TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal if elected, reversing a decision by the administration of President Barack Obama to block it over environmental concerns.</p>
<p>"I would absolutely approve it, 100 percent, but I would want a better deal," Trump told reporters at a press conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he was scheduled to give a speech to an oil conference on the energy policies he would pursue if elected to the White House.</p>
<p>Trump added that he would seek to reduce regulation on the energy industry to make drillers and coal companies more competitive. "You&rsquo;ve got to get rid of some of the regulations," he said.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-he-would-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline-2016-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/preauricular-sinus-small-hole-above-ear-2016-11">Here's why some people have a tiny hole above their ears</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-to-buy-columbia-pipeline-group-in-13-billion-deal-2016-3The company behind the Keystone pipeline is making a $13 billion acquisitionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-to-buy-columbia-pipeline-group-in-13-billion-deal-2016-3
Fri, 18 Mar 2016 06:12:00 -0400
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56ebd3fa52bcd025008b7238-1332-999/transcanada keystone pipeline.jpg" alt="TransCanada Keystone Pipeline" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom" data-mce-caption="A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska March 10, 2014." /></p><p>CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp, the company behind the controversial<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>XL oil pipeline, said on Thursday it will buy Columbia Pipeline Group for $10.2 billion, creating one of North America's largest regulated natural gas transmission businesses.</p>
<p>The deal, valued at $13 billion including debt, comes months after U.S. President Barack Obama blocked the cross-border<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>XL crude pipeline. His decision was a victory for environmentalists and a blow to TransCanada after a seven-year battle for approval.</p>
<p>TransCanada will offer $25.50 per share in cash for each Columbia Pipeline share, an 8.5 percent premium to the stock's Thursday close.</p>
<p>Columbia Pipeline shares were at $24.75 in extended trading, while TransCanada's U.S.-listed shares were down nearly 4 percent at $36.50.</p>
<p>Columbia Pipeline owns and operates about 15,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, connecting the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States, home to some of the country's most prolific shale gas plays.</p>
<p>That pipeline system will link up with TransCanada's existing assets to create a 5,700-mile network spanning the continent.</p>
<p>"This acquisition represents a rare opportunity to invest in an extensive competitively positioned growing network of regulated natural gas pipeline and storage assets in the Marcellus and Utica regions of the United States," TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said on a conference call.</p>
<p>The deal will also give TransCanada a combined portfolio of C$23 billion ($17.72 billion) of secured near-term growth projects. The company said that would add to per-share earnings in the first full year of ownership and may boost its dividend growth rate of 8 to 10 percent per year.</p>
<p>TransCanada will finance the deal by selling its U.S. Northeast merchant power assets and a minority interest in its Mexican natural gas pipeline business. The company said it had also secured $10.3 billion of credit facilities.</p>
<p>The growth in TransCanada's gas pipeline business is in contrast to slow progress in building new crude oil pipelines. The company's proposed Energy East project faced a setback this month when the Quebec government filed a motion for an injunction to ensure that the pipeline complied with the province's environmental laws.</p>
<p>If the deal closes in the second half as expected, TransCanada will then own the general partner of Columbia Pipeline Partners LP.</p>
<p>Columbia Pipeline Partners, whose general partner is currently owned by Columbia Pipeline Group, will remain a publicly traded partnership, the companies said.</p>
<p>($1 = 1.2979 Canadian dollars)</p>
<p>(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bengaluru and Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Anil D'Silva)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-to-buy-columbia-pipeline-group-in-13-billion-deal-2016-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2016/01/08/How-Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Still-Haunts-Obama-and-Threatens-His-LegacyThe Keystone XL Pipeline is threatening Obama's legacyhttp://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2016/01/08/How-Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Still-Haunts-Obama-and-Threatens-His-Legacy
Fri, 08 Jan 2016 23:03:00 -0500David Dayen
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<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56907241e6183e591e8b802a-705-529/keystone-xl-likely-to-pass-senate-thursday-faces-obama-veto.jpg" alt="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne North Dakota" />Barack Obama must wish he never heard the name TransCanada.</p>
<p>First, the company&rsquo;s application to build the nearly 2,000-mile Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Port Arthur, Texas, and the backlash from environmentalists, caused him years of agita.</p>
<p>Now, after Obama finally sided with the greens and rejected the pipeline, TransCanada has reacted in a way that threatens his most cherished remaining policy achievement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).</p>
<p>This week, TransCanada <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/business/international/transcanada-to-sue-us-for-blocking-keystone-xl-pipeline.html?_r=1">filed suit</a> against the United States over what it claims was a wrongful permit denial for Keystone XL.</p>
<p>In a separate filing seeking $15 billion in damages, TransCanada alleged that denying the pipeline approval <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/transcanada-lawsuit-keystone-xl-pipeline-1.3392446">violates</a> the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).</p>
<p>TransCanada argues that it has been &ldquo;unjustly deprived of the value of its&nbsp;multibillion-dollar&nbsp;investment by the U.S. administration's action.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/latestnews/2016/01/07/TransCanada-legal-challenges-over-Keystone-pipeline-face-long-odds"></a>In the trade challenge, TransCanada is using the <a href="http://www.citizen.org/investorcases">investor-state dispute settlement</a>&nbsp;(ISDS) provision embedded in <a href="http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/nafta/chap-111.asp">NAFTA Chapter 11</a> and thousands of trade deals over the past few decades. ISDS allows companies to sue governments over trade agreement violations for monetary damages equivalent to expected future profits.</p>
<p>Non-governmental tribunals composed of three corporate lawyers adjudicate the claims. Nations can reverse their policies to the benefit of the corporation rather than pay out the monetary damages.</p>
<p>Trade specialists <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-06/transcanada-files-suit-over-keystone-xl-will-take-writedown">believe TransCanada has a chance</a> in an ISDS tribunal. &ldquo;In a case like these facts and those claims,&rdquo; said Lori Wallach of Public Citizen&rsquo;s Global Trade Watch to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-06/transcanada-files-suit-over-keystone-xl-will-take-writedown">Bloomberg</a>, &ldquo;I have seen repeatedly, enormous amounts of money extracted from governments&rsquo; treasuries and taxpayers and doled out to corporations.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The problem for the Obama administration is that ISDS provisions also appear in the TPP, negotiated among 12 nations last year and awaiting a vote in Congress.</p>
<p>ISDS has already proven controversial, with anti-TPP lawmakers warning that the process could undermine national sovereignty.</p>
<p>The White House has rejected this, saying that the U.S. has never lost an ISDS claim. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.</p>
<p>TPP opponents have already jumped on TransCanada&rsquo;s action. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune <a href="http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2016/01/after-losing-keystone-xl-transcanada-exploits-trade-deal-provisions-demand-us">said in a statement</a> that ISDS provisions &ldquo;that wrongly empower corporations to attack our safeguards show exactly why NAFTA was wrong and why the dangerous and far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership is worse and must be stopped in its tracks.&rdquo;</p>
<p><img class="center" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56394b019dd7cc10008c70f8-711-533/us-senate-bill-to-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline-clears-hurdle.jpg" alt="Activists hold a rally against government approval of the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline, in front of the White House in Washington January 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Activists hold a rally against government approval of the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline, in front of the White House in Washington" /></p>
<p>The high-profile nature of Keystone XL assures that this claim will hang over the TPP debate, particularly among Democrats, who widely supported the president&rsquo;s rejection of the pipeline.</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s also a built-in network of millions of anti-Keystone activists who may now be empowered to go after TPP, increasing the firepower of the deal&rsquo;s opponents.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/11/05/How-TPP-Trade-Deal-Could-Blow-Primaries"></a>Disputes of this type typically go on for several years, meaning it will likely be active at the time of the TPP vote, whenever that may occur.</p>
<p>The White House cannot say there&rsquo;s nothing to fear from ISDS when TransCanada has an open claim. And House Democrats, who likely hold the margin of victory for TPP, will have to face the potential damage to democracy accompanying their vote.</p>
<p>We already have a model for how trade deals can lead to alterations in U.S. law. In the end-of-year omnibus spending deal, Republicans added a provision repealing country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws for meat and poultry.</p>
<p>The reason was that the World Trade Organization ruled for Canada and Mexico that the COOL law violated prior trade agreements, awarding them <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/wto-says-canada-mexico-can-slap-1-billion-in-tariffs-on-u-s-over-meat-labels-1449508424">$1 billion in trade sanctions</a>. Instead of paying the fine, Congress took the other option and repealed the law, and President Obama signed it.</p>
<p>Similarly, the World Trade Organization ruled in November that &ldquo;dolphin-safe&rdquo; tuna labels required by the U.S. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/24/wto-ruling-on-dolphin-safe-tuna-labeling-illustrates-supremacy-of-trade-agreements/">violated the rights</a> of Mexican fishers. Mexico filed that challenge on behalf of its fishing industry, and a subsequent award of trade sanctions could again cause the U.S. to repeal its consumer information law.</p>
<p>Food labels aside, while TransCanada&rsquo;s claim involves a corporation suing a country directly rather than a country making a claim on an industry&rsquo;s behalf, the inherent danger associated with these third-party tribunals is the same.</p>
<p>Once a country assents to ISDS, it opens up its laws to scrutiny for trade violations, effectively creating an extra branch of government with judicial review, outside of the sovereign structure. &ldquo;With a single press release, TransCanada has proven what concerned citizens have argued for decades &mdash; that the primary purpose of ISDS is to subvert democratic processes and the public interest, in the name of private profit,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.ciel.org/news/8886/">said Carroll Muffett</a>, president of the Center for International Environmental Law.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/12/21/Cheap-Oil-and-Pricey-Unicorns-20-Biggest-Business-Stories-2015"><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/512e3e4a6bb3f73e46000006-677-507/obama-keystone-2.jpg" alt="obama keystone" data-mce-source="AP Images" /></strong></a>ISDS claims can attack state and local governments, too.</p>
<p>Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens has an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/16/t-boone-pickens-ontario-lawsuit-nafta_n_8313942.html">active ISDS claim</a> against Ontario, Canada over that province&rsquo;s wind power auctions.</p>
<p>He&rsquo;s seeking $700 million. As ISDS grows with additional trade agreements, the smallest town&rsquo;s decisions all the way up to the business of Congress could get scrutinized.</p>
<p>Prior to the TransCanada announcement, it was actually a pretty good week for the TPP.</p>
<p>All the business trade groups endorsed the pact, from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/06/u-s-chamber-of-commerce-endorses-obamas-pacific-rim-trade-pact/">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a> to the <a href="http://www.nam.org/Newsroom/Press-Releases/2016/01/Manufacturers-Endorse-Trans-Pacific-Partnership/">National Association of Manufacturers</a> to the <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/264753-business-leaders-announce-support-for-tpp">Business Roundtable</a>. They<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/263181-major-tech-group-backs-pacific-trade-deal">joined the high-tech lobby</a>, which endorsed it last month.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects/GEP-Jan-2016-Implications-Trans-Pacific-Partnership">World Bank study</a> of the agreement released this week found that all participants in the deal, particularly Vietnam, Japan and Malaysia, would benefit economically.</p>
<p>The study is incredibly flawed &mdash; it doesn&rsquo;t count the net economic harm from increased imports, looking only at exports &mdash; and the alleged U.S. benefit under that one-sided review is tiny, just 0.4 percent of GDP by 2030, the lowest of any party to the agreement.</p>
<p>But any proof of economic aid from TPP, no matter how distorted, is helpful to the White House&rsquo;s argument.</p>
<p>Despite this, Republicans are <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/264882-gop-in-no-hurry-to-move-on-trans-pacific-partnership">skeptical of TPP</a> and have told the president not to send the agreement for approval to Congress until after the 2016 elections.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s largely seen as a negotiating tactic &mdash; Mitch McConnell in particular wants better terms for the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries &mdash; but the implication is that vulnerable politicians either don&rsquo;t want to have to take a controversial vote before their re-election or that the deal currently doesn&rsquo;t have the required support.</p>
<p>TransCanada&rsquo;s maneuver only raises the pressure, providing a model for the worst-case scenario of approving TPP. Politicians have even more reasons to duck the debate, or to line up against the deal, as everyone from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump has done.</p>
<p>Some executive at TransCanada, miffed by Obama&rsquo;s rejection of their pipeline payday, must be smiling.</p>
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</div><p><a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2016/01/08/How-Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Still-Haunts-Obama-and-Threatens-His-Legacy#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cook-scrambled-eggs-anthony-bourdain-2016-11">The best way to cook scrambled eggs — according to Anthony Bourdain</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-confident-acted-lawfully-in-keystone-pipeline-rejection-2016-1The White House is confident that Obama acted lawfully in Keystone pipeline rejectionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-confident-acted-lawfully-in-keystone-pipeline-rejection-2016-1
Thu, 07 Jan 2016 19:19:00 -0500Ayesha Rascoe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54ca6aad5afbd3104a8b4569-450-300/keystone-xl-likely-to-pass-senate-thursday-faces-obama-veto.jpg" alt="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen " border="0" /></p><p></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp faces a rocky legal path as it seeks to overturn President Barack Obama's denial of its<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>XL pipeline or at least recoup some of its lost investment in the multibillion dollar project.</p>
<p>The Canadian company filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas on Wednesday, asking the court to declare the White House decision unlawful. Separately, TransCanada announced its intent to issue a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for $15 billion in damages.</p>
<p>Both cases face an uphill battle, but international trade lawyers say the high-profile U.S. political battle over the pipeline may help TransCanada's claims of unfair treatment under NAFTA.</p>
<p>The trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States allows investors from those countries to seek damages when they feel they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly by one of the other NAFTA member nations.</p>
<p>TransCanada contends that the United States "unjustifiably" discriminated against the<span class="highlight"> Keystone</span>project and had previously approved pipelines from other investors in a shorter amount of time and under different criteria than applied to<span class="highlight"> Keystone</span>.</p>
<p>Under NAFTA, investor-state challenges are decided by a three-person panel composed of private arbitrators chosen by the parties involved in the dispute. The tribunal has no power to alter the White House's decision, but can award damages.</p>
<p>The<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>XL was designed to link existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring crude from Alberta and North Dakota to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast. It sparked widespread opposition from environmental groups and a tug-of-war over its approval between Republicans and Democrats.</p>
<p>Obama rejected the project in November, seven years after it was first proposed, saying it would undercut the country's global leadership in fighting climate change by promoting the import of carbon-intensive oil sands crude.</p>
<p>The United States has faced more than a dozen challenges by investors claiming unfair treatment under the trade deal, but has to date never lost such a case.</p>
<p>White House spokesman Josh Earnest trumpeted that success record on Thursday when asked about the potential NAFTA case.</p>
<p>"We are confident that the decision that was made vis-&agrave;-vis the<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>pipeline is entirely consistent with all of our international obligations, including our obligations under NAFTA," Earnest told reporters.</p>
<h3>LITTLE CHANCE CHALLENGES WILL SUCCEED</h3>
<h3><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56504fea5afbd33e608b4567-800-562/for-response-at-home-to-attacks-abroad-white-house-brings-out-biden.jpg" alt="U.S. President Barack Obama (L-R) arrives with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry to deliver a statement on the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington November 6, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Obama arrives with Biden and Kerry to deliver a statement on the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington" /></h3>
<p>Some factors involved in the review process for<span class="highlight"> Keystone </span>may play in TransCanada's favor in the trade case, analysts said.</p>
<p>Public statements from U.S. lawmakers and the White House stressing the importance of domestic oil production over Canadian crude may support claims of discrimination on basis of nationality, said Mark Warner, an international trade lawyer.</p>
<p>"I think it's the strongest case to go forward against the United States, but the chances of success are still very low," said Warner.</p>
<p>Simon Lester, a trade policy analyst with libertarian think tank Cato Institute, said TransCanada's claim that the project denial was arbitrary might be bolstered because the administration essentially blocked transport of Canadian oil sands crude via one pipeline, but not rail or other methods.</p>
<p>"There will be a bit of reluctance to find against the United States on such a high-profile case, but tribunal judges should not completely ignore the facts of the law," Lester said.</p>
<p>Separately, TransCanada's federal court case against the Obama administration argues that Obama's decision was unconstitutional and challenges the president's authority to unilaterally block construction of a cross-border pipeline for reasons not directly related to the physical project.</p>
<p>Other federal lawsuits have challenged the approval of presidential permits for cross-border oil pipelines and mostly focused on environmental issues and alleged violations of administrative law. Courts in those cases have generally said the permitting process falls under the president's Constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy.</p>
<p>Alan Dunn, an international trade lawyer at Stewart and Stewart and former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce, said it was "novel and intriguing" that TransCanada was challenging the president's decision on Constitutional rather than procedural grounds.</p>
<p>TransCanada's suit "may break some new paths in the jurisprudence of international agreements," said Dunn.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Amran Abocar and Nia Williams; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-confident-acted-lawfully-in-keystone-pipeline-rejection-2016-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-launches-legal-action-over-keystone-xl-rejection-2016-1TransCanada is suing the US over the rejection of Keystone XLhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-launches-legal-action-over-keystone-xl-rejection-2016-1
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 17:08:00 -0500Nia Williams
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/546c356f5afbd302158b4569-450-300/could-obama-cut-deal-on-keystone-pipeline-dont-rule-it-out.jpg" alt="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen " border="0" /></p><p></p>
<p>CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp sued the U.S government in U.S. federal court on Wednesday, alleging President Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.</p>
<p>Obama rejected the cross-border crude oil pipeline late last year, seven years after it was first proposed. TransCanada also filed legal action under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying the pipeline permit denial was "arbitrary and unjustified."</p>
<p>As part of the NAFTA claim, the company was seeking $15 billion.</p>
<p>Obama rejected Keystone in November, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy.</p>
<p>In filing the NAFTA claim, TransCanada said it "had every reason to expect its application would be granted" as it had met the same criteria the U.S. State Department used when approving other similar cross-border pipelines.</p>
<p>The White House referred requests for comment to the U.S. State Department.</p>
<p>"We have undertaken a careful evaluation of the (U.S) Administration&rsquo;s action as it relates to NAFTA and believe there has been a clear violation of NAFTA in these circumstances," TransCanada said.</p>
<p>The separate claim, filed in federal court in Houston, does not seek legal damages but wants the permit denial invalidated. It also requests that no future presidential action be needed for construction to continue.</p>
<p>The Canadian company said it will also take an after-tax write down of C$2.5 billion ($1.78 billion) to C$2.9 billion in the fourth quarter after the permit denial.</p>
<p>TransCanada is also developing the Energy East pipeline, designed to move 1.1 million barrels per day of western crude to Canada's East Coast, although it too faces opposition from environmentalists trying to halt industry expansion.</p>
<p>The Keystone XL pipeline was designed to link existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring crude from Alberta and North Dakota to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast. The project ran into opposition from environmental groups in the United States.</p>
<p>($1 = 1.4075 Canadian dollars)</p>
<p>(Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary and Roberta Rampton in Washington; writing by Amran Abocar; Editing by David Gregorio)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-transcanada-launches-legal-action-over-keystone-xl-rejection-2016-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/transcanada-share-price-keystone-pipeline-2015-11Shares of the company that's building the Keystone pipeline got crushed (TRP)http://www.businessinsider.com/transcanada-share-price-keystone-pipeline-2015-11
Fri, 06 Nov 2015 16:00:00 -0500Akin Oyedele
<p>Shares of TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone pipeline, slumped by as much as 6% on Friday.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11">announced</a>&nbsp;his administration's opposition to the cross-border-distribution pipeline.</p>
<p>Shares were already down by about 4% before news of Obama's upcoming announcement crossed. The stock had fallen 34% year-to-date.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As Business Insider's Colin Campbell <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11">noted</a>, the project garnered support because of the jobs it would create. However, environmentalists opposed it on fears of its effects on climate change.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, TransCanada applied to the State Department for permission to build the pipeline, but was denied. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Here's a chart showing the drop in shares:<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/563cd7979dd7cc24008c7d07-1023-721/screen shot 2015-11-06 at 11.38.48 am.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015 11 06 at 11.38.48 AM" data-mce-source="Google" /></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11" >President Obama's announcement on the Keystone XL pipeline</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/transcanada-share-price-keystone-pipeline-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-footage-alberta-canada-landscape-oil-2015-3">Stunning drone video captures the beauty of Canada's oil province</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline-president-state-department-crude-oil-2015-11President Obama just killed the Keystone XL pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline-president-state-department-crude-oil-2015-11
Fri, 06 Nov 2015 13:03:18 -0500Jacqui Frank
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<p><span>President Barack Obama announced his administration's formal rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, November 6th.</span></p>
<p><em>Produced by Jacqui Frank</em></p>
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Fri, 06 Nov 2015 11:01:32 -0500Colin Campbell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/563ce1009dd7cc18008c7fb6-4604-3453/ap_993064956015.jpg" alt="barack obama joe biden john kerry keystone" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsuvais" data-mce-caption="President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry."></p><p>President Barack Obama announced his administration's formal rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday.</p>
<p>"The State Department has decided that the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interests of the United States," <span>he said at a White House news conference.</span> "I agree with that decision."</p>
<p><span>The massive project would have carried oil from Canada almost 1,200 miles to the Gulf Coast in the US. </span>Obama said it would harm the environment and argued that its construction would neither create jobs nor lower energy prices.</p>
<p>"Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America's energy security," Obama said as he stood next to Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.</p>
<p>"America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change," he added. "And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that's the biggest risk we face.</p>
<p>"Ultimately, if we're going to prevent large parts of this earth from becoming not only inhospitable, but uninhabitable, in our lifetimes, we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels into the ground rather than burn them."</p>
<p>The administration's rejection of the Keystone pipeline does not come as a surprise, as Obama <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2">vetoed</a> a Republican-backed bill to fast track the project in February.</p>
<p>TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline, asked the State Department <a href="http://time.com/4097613/keystone-xl-pipeline-suspended/">to suspend its</a> review of the project. The US <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/05/us-transcanada-keystone-state-idUSKCN0ST2VX20151105">rejected that request</a> on Wednesday — a move many saw as a sign the pipeline would be rejected.</p>
<p>The pipeline's supporters argued that it would create jobs and lower energy prices, while environmentalists and many Democrats argued that it would increase the effects of climate change.</p>
<p>"This is a big win," May Boeve, executive director of the environmentalist group 350.org, said in a statement. "President Obama's decision to reject Keystone XL because of its impact on the climate is nothing short of historic — and sets an important precedent that should send shockwaves through the fossil-fuel industry."</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/563ce35a9dd7cc25008c7f59-5587-2794/ap_188255173951.jpg" alt="keystone xl pipeline protest" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File" data-mce-caption="Environmentalist protesters urging President Obama to veto the Keystone XL pipeline last February."></p>
<p>"The D.C. establishment once called this pipeline a done deal," added Tom Steyer, president of another environmentalist group, NextGen Climate. "Today, the leader of the free world stood side by side with a brave and diverse clean-energy coalition and pointed our country towards a brighter, more prosperous future."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Republican leaders expressed their disappointment with Obama's announcement, which they attributed to the influence of special-interest groups.</p>
<p>"I wish I were surprised by the president's decision to reject this jobs and infrastructure project," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in a statement. "But it's become painfully clear that the president is more interested in appeasing deep-pocketed special interests and extremists than helping tens of thousands of Americans who could have benefited from Keystone's good jobs."</p>
<p>A statement from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) blasting Obama was similar to McConnell's.</p>
<p>"This decision isn't surprising, but it is sickening," Ryan said. "By rejecting this pipeline, the president is rejecting tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. He is rejecting our largest trading partner and energy supplier. He is rejecting the will of the American people and a bipartisan majority of the Congress. If the president wants to spend the rest of his time in office catering to special interests, that's his choice to make. But it's just wrong."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-opposes-keystone-pipeline-2015-9" >Hillary Clinton took a position on the controversial pipeline she long refused to comment on</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline-president-state-department-crude-oil-2015-11">President Obama just killed the Keystone XL pipeline</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-denies-transcanada-request-to-pause-keystone-review-2015-11 The US denied TransCanada request to pause review of Keystone XL pipeline http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-denies-transcanada-request-to-pause-keystone-review-2015-11
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 17:45:00 -0500Valerie Volcovici
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56390edb5afbd3e8608b4567-450-300/white-house-says-unusual-to-pause-keystone-xl-pipeline-review.jpg" alt="A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska, in this file photo taken March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom/Files" border="0" /></p><p></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States formally denied a request on Wednesday to pause the review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, a decision expected to lead to the project's rejection by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>TransCanada Corp's request for a delay was seen by many as an attempt to avert a rejection from an increasingly environmentally focused Democratic President Barack Obama and postpone the decision until after the November 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>The White House declined to comment but hinted on Tuesday that the administration would not be receptive to TransCanada's request.</p>
<p>Secretary of State John Kerry has not given a timeline for making a recommendation on the $8 billion project.</p>
<p>"The secretary believes that, out of respect for that process and all the input that has gone into it, that it is the most appropriate thing to keep that process in place, to continue the review," State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news conference on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The State Department must issue a recommendation because the project crosses the border with Canada.</p>
<p>Since it was proposed seven years ago, the pipeline has been the heart of a struggle between environmentalists opposed to oil sands development and defenders of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>The nearly 1,200-mile (2,000-km) pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels a day of mostly Canadian oil sands crude to Nebraska en route to refineries and ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>TransCanada said it respects the State Department's decision and will continue to press for approval.</p>
<p>"The fundamental question remains: Do Americans want to continue to import millions of barrels of oil every day from the Middle East and Venezuela or do they want to get their oil from North Dakota and Canada through Keystone XL? We believe the answer is clear and the choice is Keystone XL," said TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper.</p>
<p>TransCanada's shares closed up 1.5 percent at C$45.10 on Wednesday.</p>
<p>If the State Department had paused the review, the decision would likely have fallen to the next U.S. president.</p>
<p>All the Democratic presidential hopefuls, including front-runner Hillary Clinton, oppose the project, while most of the Republican presidential candidates support it.</p>
<p>Environmental groups quickly praised the State Department move and urged Obama to follow up by quickly rejecting the pipeline.</p>
<p>"Now that he&rsquo;s called TransCanada for delay of game, it's time for President Obama to blow the whistle and end this pipeline once and for all," said Jamie Henn, communications director of 350.org, one of the most vocal anti-Keystone activist groups.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington and Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew Lewis)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-denies-transcanada-request-to-pause-keystone-review-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Keystone-XL-Pipeline-May-Be-Dead-At-Least-For-Now.htmlThe Keystone pipeline is dead — for nowhttp://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Keystone-XL-Pipeline-May-Be-Dead-At-Least-For-Now.html
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 17:14:00 -0500Andy Tully
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/563a0c839dd7cc22008c7329-1907-1430/rtxjtve.jpg" alt="oil line leak" data-mce-source="STR New/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Oil from a pipeline leaks into the surrounding wetlands near the city of Usinsk, close to the Arctic Circle in northern Russia." /></p><p>Rather than risk rejection by the President Obama, TransCanada Corp. has chosen to ask Washington to suspend its application to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through the United States and hope for a better reception from the next administration.</p>
<p>The venture has been touted for years as a significant benefit for the U.S. economy and its energy independence, though critics say few jobs will be forthcoming once the conduit has been built.</p>
<p>Further, they argue, Keystone will also add more oil, and its pollutants, to the world&rsquo;s supply at a time when most countries are trying to limit greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>The State Department, which decides whether to approve such cross-border enterprises, said that on Nov. 2 it received a letter from TransCanada. The company asked that its application, which is currently under review in Nebraska, be suspended. That process is expected to last as long as one year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In order to allow time for certainty regarding the Nebraska route, TransCanada requests that the State Department pause in its review of the presidential permit application,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/transcanada-requests-suspension-of-u-s-permit-for-keystone-xl-pipeline-1446507279">the letter said</a>. The agency reportedly was in the final stages of its review and now must decide whether to agree to the company&rsquo;s request or move ahead with its review and issue a decision.</p>
<p>Obama has said he expects to issue his final decision on Keystone before he leaves office in January 2017, and TransCanada evidently is concerned that he will reject the pipeline, given his growing skepticism about its purported value.</p>
<p>The company also has lost its most important domestic ally in the Keystone effort, Conservative Stephen Harper, who was ousted last month as Canada&rsquo;s prime minister.</p>
<p>Harper&rsquo;s successor, Liberal Justin Trudeau, has offered <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/03/us-transcanada-keystone-idUSKCN0SR2J320151103">tepid backing</a> of the project, but also stresses that the pipeline project, which would be the conduit for Canadian oil sands, would be managed in an environmentally responsible way.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5625ba5fbd86ef1d5d8b7f7d-3202-2402/rts50pg.jpg" alt="Justin Trudeau" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Chris Wattie" /></p>
<p>Presumably TransCanada is betting that Obama will be succeeded in the White House by a Republican. All the candidates for that party&rsquo;s nomination in the 2016 election say they support Keystone XL. All the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination say they oppose it.</p>
<p>Shortly before TransCanada&rsquo;s request was made public, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked, as he often is, about when Obama may issue his decision. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/us/politics/transcanada-suspends-request-for-permit-to-build-keystone-pipeline.html">He replied</a>, &ldquo;The president will make a decision before the end of his administration on the Keystone pipeline, but when exactly that will be, I don&rsquo;t know at this point.&rdquo;</p>
<p>TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling said this wouldn&rsquo;t be the first time the State Department had permitted a suspension.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I note that when the status of the Nebraska pipeline route was challenged last year, the State Department found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved,&rdquo; he said in a statement. &ldquo;We feel &hellip; a similar suspension would be appropriate.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Environmentalists argued that TransCanada&rsquo;s request was a blatant attempt to dodge what they believe was Obama&rsquo;s likely rejection of Keystone. They contended that any dispute over the pipeline&rsquo;s path through Nebraska wouldn&rsquo;t change in impact of the pipeline on the environment.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Pause or no pause, we now know more than enough to do the right thing &ndash; reject the pipeline because it will worsen climate change,&rdquo; Anthony Swift, the director of the Canada Project of the National Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. &ldquo;Altering its route through Nebraska isn&rsquo;t going to change that. Keystone XL isn&rsquo;t in the national interest, and the president should reject it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The pipeline would begin in Alberta and run south on a 1,700-mile course through six U.S. states. It would have the capacity to carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day to refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 100,000 barrels of the oil it would move would be from producers in North Dakota.</p>
<p>TransCanada began its effort to build the pipeline through the United States in 2008. Since then it has faced difficulties, not only from opponents in Washington but also landowners and environmentalists in Nebraska, whose concerns have delayed passage permits.</p>
<p>So far, the company has spent at least $2.5 billion on Keystone XL. If it ever gets final approval, the initial cost estimate of $8 billion is expected to rise to $10 billion or more.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/halliburton-oil-industry-day-of-reckoning-2015-10" >The oil industry's 'day of reckoning' is near</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Keystone-XL-Pipeline-May-Be-Dead-At-Least-For-Now.html#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/preauricular-sinus-small-hole-above-ear-2016-11">Here's why some people have a tiny hole above their ears</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-obama-to-decide-keystone-fate-before-he-leaves-office-white-house-2015-11Obama will decide on the Keystone XL pipeline before he leaves officehttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-obama-to-decide-keystone-fate-before-he-leaves-office-white-house-2015-11
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 01:16:00 -0500Timothy Gardner and Bruce Wallace
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56394b019dd7cc10008c70f8-711-533/us-senate-bill-to-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline-clears-hurdle.jpg" alt="Activists hold a rally against government approval of the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline, in front of the White House in Washington January 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Activists hold a rally against government approval of the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline, in front of the White House in Washington" /></p><p>President Barack Obama wants to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline by the end of his presidency, the White House said on Tuesday, calling a request by the project's Canadian developer to delay a review "unusual."</p>
<p>Obama, who has increasingly focused on environmental issues as his presidency nears its final year, will make a decision on TransCanada Corp's pipeline before he leaves office in 2017, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.</p>
<p>Faced with dimming prospects for approval of the pipeline that would help link Canada's Alberta oil fields to U.S. refineries, the Canadian company on Monday asked the Obama administration to delay its review, signaling that prolonged uncertainty is preferable to rejection of the $8 billion project.</p>
<p>The request "seems unusual," as the process has already taken more than seven years, Earnest said.</p>
<p>The request by Calgary-based TransCanada has been widely interpreted as an attempt to avert an impending "no" from Obama to the nearly 1,200-mile (2,000-km) cross-border pipeline. It would carry 830,000 barrels a day of mostly Canadian oil sands crude through Nebraska en route to refineries and ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>The project has become the symbolic heart of a struggle between environmentalists opposed to oil sands development and defenders of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>All the Democratic presidential hopefuls including front-runner Hillary Clinton oppose the project, while most Republican presidential candidates support it.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56394b869dd7cc03308bbc93-2796-2097/rts3g9l.jpg" alt="obama" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Barack Obama listens as he is introduced to speak at the White House Summit on Worker Voice in Washington October 7, 2015." />The State Department, which is considering the project because it crosses the border with Canada, said it is in the process of responding to TransCanada but had no estimate of how long it would take.</p>
<p>The pipeline has many supporters in the U.S. Congress from oil-producing states, as it would also carry a small amount of domestic oil. But earlier this year Obama vetoed a bill that would have given Congress the power to approve the project.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Bruce Wallace in Los Angeles and Tim Gardner in Washington; Additional reporting by; Nia Williams in Calgary and Euan Rocha in Toronto; Rditing by Jeffrey Benkoe)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-obama-to-decide-keystone-fate-before-he-leaves-office-white-house-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-unusual-to-pause-keystone-xl-pipeline-review-2015-11The White House said it would be 'unusual' to pause its Keystone XL pipeline reviewhttp://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-unusual-to-pause-keystone-xl-pipeline-review-2015-11
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 18:04:00 -0500
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/56390edb5afbd3e8608b4567-450-300/white-house-says-unusual-to-pause-keystone-xl-pipeline-review.jpg" alt="A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska, in this file photo taken March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom/Files" border="0" /></p><p>The White House said on Tuesday it would be "unusual" to pause the U.S. government's years-long review process of TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.</p>
<p>TransCanada has asked the U.S. government to suspend review of the $8 billion project that sparked a political war between environmentalists and the oil industry.</p>
<p>White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the State Department was still considering the Canadian company's request "to determine exactly what the request is, and what is motivating that request."</p>
<p>"But given how long it's taken ... it seems unusual to me to suggest that somehow it should be paused yet again," Earnest said at a news briefing.</p>
<p>The 1,200-mile (2,000-km) pipeline would help link Canada's heavy oil fields to U.S. refineries.</p>
<p>If granted by the U.S. State Department, the delay would likely take the decision from Democratic President Barack Obama and put it into the hands of the winner of the November 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>"There's reason to believe there may be politics at play here," Earnest said.</p>
<p>He said Obama has tried to ensure that the eventual decision is based on the merits of the project, as determined by experts.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-house-says-unusual-to-pause-keystone-xl-pipeline-review-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/trancanada-is-suspending-its-permit-for-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11The construction of the most contested oil pipeline between Canada and the US just got delayed againhttp://www.businessinsider.com/trancanada-is-suspending-its-permit-for-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:12:00 -0500Reuters and Jeremy Berke
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5637fdca9dd7cc14008c6be8-707-530/2015-11-03t001649z_2_lynxnpeba112l_rtroptp_3_usa-keystone.jpg" alt="keystone pipeline pipes" data-mce-source="Reuters/Andrew Cullen" data-mce-caption="A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp's planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014." /></p><p><span class="s1"><span>Alberta's</span></span><span class="s1"><span>&nbsp;oil industry has long drawn the ire of environmentalists on both sides of the US-Canadian border.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">And in&nbsp;light of a <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/nebraska-judge-stops-transcanada-using-eminent-domain-keystone-xl-306774">fresh&nbsp;lawsuit</a>&nbsp;in Nebraska, Transcanada, the company trying to build a pipeline from Alberta to Texas,&nbsp;has called for the US government to delay its&nbsp;review of the project.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>Located deep underground and evenly mixed between sandy layers, Alberta's oil&nbsp;is a particularly sticky mixture of heavy crude and bitumen (semi-solid oil).&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>Extracting the oil is an energy intensive process that involves stripping the topsoil and pumping a noxious mixture of chemicals into the ground to separate the oil from the surrounding sand.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p class="p1">These chemicals are often not disposed of properly, contaminating groundwater and leaching the surrounding land&nbsp;of nutrients. In the process, they can also cause the&nbsp;wholesale destruction of important boreal forest and muskeg habitats.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">TransCanada, a Canadian energy company, has sought to build a pipeline &mdash; the Keystone XL &mdash; that will transport the heavy oil directly from Alberta's oil sands to thirsty refineries&nbsp;on the Gulf coast of Texas.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">The proposed pipeline's <a href="http://keystone-xl.com/about/the-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-project/">1,700 mile path</a> across the American midwest will traverse important habitat for many endangered species. If there's a spill, or any sort of issue with the pipeline, the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/no_keystone_xl/in_harms_way.html">environmental costs</a> would be dire.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Lots of people want cheap oil, but they don't want the pipeline running through their backyard. The highly publicized back-and-forth between Transcanada, and the governments of both the US and Canada have focussed on carefully deciding the safest and most politically expedient route for the pipeline.</p>
<p class="p1">Recently, the Nebraskan Supreme Court approved a route for the pipeline through the state, allowing Transcanada to take private land through eminent domain.&nbsp;The proposed path of the pipeline crosses the Ogalla Aquifer, a large source of freshwater for the state.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Worries over contamination have galvanized local environmentalists and landowners alike. A grassroots organization of over 70 local landowners has <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/nebraska-judge-stops-transcanada-using-eminent-domain-keystone-xl-306774">brought a fresh lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against Transcanada in order to re-open the debate about the proposed path of the pipeline, and force state officials in Nebraska to delay the decision-making process.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Unlikely to win this fight, Transcanada made a plea for a ceasefire on Monday, asking the Obama administration to suspend its review of the controversial infrastructure project that would bring heavy oil from Alberta to US&nbsp;refineries.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Calgary-based TransCanada Corp said it had sent a letter to the US&nbsp;State Department to suspend its application while the company goes through a state review process in Nebraska.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">"We are asking State (Department) to pause its review of Keystone XL based on the fact that we have applied to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in the state," TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The news comes shortly after the White House on Monday said it still expects Obama will make a decision on whether to grant a permit to TransCanada Corp for the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline before he leaves office in January 2017.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Asked if TransCanada was asking for a delay because of concerns Obama may block the pipeline, TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper said the company was not going to speculate on what the decision may be or when it may come.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Keystone project faced headwinds both from a U.S. administration seen as favoring environmental protection over expanding oil pipelines and U.S. crude prices that have plunged to $50 a barrel from almost $150 when the project filed a federal application in 2008.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54db4cad5afbd3a4458b4573-800-533/transcanada-disagrees-with-us-epa-on-keystone-carbon-footprint.jpg" alt="A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska in this file photo taken on March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska" /></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The TransCanada Corp pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels a day of mostly Canadian oil sands crude to Nebraska en route to refineries and ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The pipeline has become a symbol in the larger political fight over climate change, with environmental groups arguing that stopping its construction will force producers to keep much of the heavy oil in the ground.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">&ldquo;TransCanada rightly sensed that the tide has turned against Keystone XL and now they&rsquo;re trying to delay any decision in the hopes that they can get a Republican president to approve it,&rdquo; said Valerie Love with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, who urged Obama to reject the appeal for more time.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><em><span class="s1">(Reporting by Bruce Wallace; Additional reporting by; Nia Williams and Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)</span></em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/giant-earth-crack-in-wyoming-2015-11" >A giant crack the length of 6 football fields has opened up in Wyoming</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-how-climate-change-is-reshaping-earth-2015-5" >Remarkable before-and-after photos make it undeniably clear we're ruining our planet</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trancanada-is-suspending-its-permit-for-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-2015-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-footage-alberta-canada-landscape-oil-2015-3">Stunning drone video captures the beauty of Canada's oil province</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/canadas-new-carbon-emissions-rules-provide-new-hope-for-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-7Canada's new carbon emissions rules provide new hope for the Keystone pipelinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/canadas-new-carbon-emissions-rules-provide-new-hope-for-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-7
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 20:45:00 -0400Andy Tully
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55952eec6bb3f7da15a73318-1200-924/oil-pipeline-19.jpg" border="0" alt="oil pipeline"></p><p>TransCanada Corp. has written to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arguing that new Canadian rules on emissions should persuade him to approve the construction of the much-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/transcanada-kxl-letter-idUSL1N0ZG1TL20150630">The proposed US$6.4 billion project</a> would carry an estimated 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil per day from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, then link up with Keystone’s existing line, which would take the oil on the final leg to the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>Keystone XL is strongly opposed by environmentalists both in the United States and Canada, and President Obama says he won’t approve the project until he’s convinced it won’t seriously contribute to climate change.</p>
<p>But in a <a href="http://keystone-xl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Supplemental-Information-Letter-to-DOS-Keystone-XL-June-26-15.pdf">letter</a> to Kerry and other State Department officials, Kristin Delkus, TransCanada’s general counsel, pointed to new policies on carbon emissions in Canada, specifically <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/TransCanada+Albertas+tougher+rules+bolster+case+Keystone/11178952/story.html">a federal rule issued in May</a> to cut emissions down to 70 percent of their 2005 levels within 15 years.</p>
<p>Further, Delkus wrote, Canada’s federal government also has joined other members of the Group of Seven industrial nations to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by between 40 percent and 70 percent by 2050.</p>
<p>Delkus, who also serves as TransCanada’s executive vice president, also cited a new rule imposed by Alberta’s provincial government run by the reformist New Democratic Party that will double the penalties for exceeding carbon emissions allotments to US$24 per metric ton by 2017.</p>
<p>“Any decision on the pending Presidential Permit application should take all of these factors and developments into account,” Delkus wrote.</p>
<p>The letter also argues that the chiefs of some of the biggest companies involved in Alberta’s oil sands industry have publicly come out in favor of such stricter carbon pricing. Delkus said they include Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy, both Canadian concerns, as well as European giants with operations in Canada, including Total of France and the Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell.</p>
<p>The TransCanada letter also reminded Kerry that the oil sands of Alberta will be developed regardless of any U.S. government opposition to the pipeline project. Therefore, it argued, not building Keystone XL would have no effect on controlling CO2 emissions overall.</p>
<p>In an effort to bolster Delkus’ letter, Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s president of development, issued a separate statement urging Kerry’s agency to approve the pipeline.</p>
<p>“We are asking the U.S. State Department to consider these recent developments that add to the abundance of evidence already collected through seven years and 17,000 pages of review that Keystone XL will not ‘significantly exacerbate’ greenhouse gas emissions,” Pourbaix wrote, quoting Obama.</p>
<p>And in concluding her letter, Delkus wrote, “Clearly the developments with respect to Canadian, Alberta, North American, and international [greenhouse gas] policy, as well as recent industry positions and technological developments, are all consistent with the [U.S.] president’s stance on not exacerbating the risk of climate change, as is TransCanada’s own clean energy footprint.”</p>
<p>In February, the U.S. <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/246556-keystone-developer-says-new-regulations-justify-the-project">Congress passed legislation supporting the construction of Keystone XL</a>, but Obama responded with a veto. Since then, one of Kerry’s jobs is to review final opinions on the pipeline project and send the president his recommendation on whether or not to allow it. The secretary faces no deadline, however.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/canadas-new-carbon-emissions-rules-provide-new-hope-for-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-air-force-one-tour-boeing-private-jet-2015-5">Take a tour of the $367 million jet that will soon be called Air Force One</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-has-a-keystone-xl-problem-2015-4Hillary Clinton has a Keystone XL problemhttp://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-has-a-keystone-xl-problem-2015-4
Tue, 14 Apr 2015 10:57:25 -0400Jared Gilmour
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/552d2aae6da811436bc0267d-1200-924/hillary-clinton-264.jpg" border="0" alt="Hillary Clinton"></p><p>WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton announced Sunday that she will run for president in 2016, and environmental groups are welcoming her to the race with the first of what could be many Keystone XL protests.</p>
<p>The controversial pipeline has become a litmus test for environmentalists concerned that Ms. Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, won’t take a bold enough stance to fight climate change. As Secretary of State, Clinton said she was “inclined” to sign-off on the pipeline, which would carry emissions-heavy oil sands from Alberta to US Gulf Coast refineries.</p>
<p>Since then, Clinton has remained silent on Keystone XL, while the Obama administration has spent six years deciding whether to approve or reject it. A final decision, which could come in weeks or months, would take some of the heat off Clinton.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/552d227eecad04837d23faa9-1200-924/transcanada-keystone-oil-pipeline-4.jpg" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline" style="color: #222222; line-height: 22.5px;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 22.5px;"></span></p>
<p>But for now, the pressure’s on: Climate activism group 350.org, which helped catapult Keystone XL into the limelight as a symbol of the contemporary environmental movement, is spearheading a protest outside Clinton’s Brooklyn campaign headquarters Monday.</p>
<p>“We all remember when Clinton said she was 'inclined' to approve Keystone XL. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If the pipeline goes through, she'll shoulder part of the blame, and this protest today will be just a small taste of actions to come,” Jamie Henn, spokesperson for 350 Action, told the Monitor in an email Monday. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">“Clinton is saying many of the right things on climate – Keystone XL is an easy way to start doing the right thing.”</span></p>
<p>Clinton might seem an unlikely target, given the strong marks she has received from other environmental groups. But with few Democratic challengers and a Republican field that questions the science of climate change, green groups are training their eyes on Clinton, who they believe could take a more vocal stand against climate change.</p>
<p>According to an ABC News poll, 59 percent of Americans say they “want the next president to be someone who favors government action to address climate change,” while 58 percent call climate change an important issue.</p>
<p>Environmentalists are also mindful that Obama’s environmental legacy – including plans to slash US power plant emissions 30 percent by 2030, and his work toward a binding international climate accord – will be carried about by his successor.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3-troubling-hillarys-email-theories-2015-3" >3 troubling theories about what could have been going on inside Hillary's emails</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-has-a-keystone-xl-problem-2015-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphone-impact-brain-body-sleep-2015-2">This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2 Obama vetoed the Keystone XL pipeline, but here's why approval is still possiblehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 10:52:00 -0500Robert S. Eshelman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54ef3ffceab8ea165a86bcc7-710-532/obama-military-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="Obama military"></p><p>President Obama used his veto power on Tuesday for just the third time in his administration, sending back to Congress legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 800,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>"The Presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously. But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people," Obama wrote in a two-paragraph communication to Congress. "And because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest — including our security, safety, and environment — it has earned my veto."</p>
<p>Obama has long pledged to send back to Congress the Keystone bill while the State Department continues to evaluate the merits of the project, a process that is now in its sixth year. The administration's lengthy review has drawn the ire of Republicans and some Democrats in Congress.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged that the Senate would "soon vote on an override."</p>
<p>Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives can currently muster the two-thirds majority necessary for overturning the President's veto. The Senate remains four votes short, the House remains 11 votes shy.</p>
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RT <a href="https://twitter.com/StewSays">@StewSays</a>: The President vetoed the bipartisan <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> jobs bill. The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Senate?src=hash">#Senate</a> will soon vote on an override. </p>— Sen. McConnell Press (@McConnellPress) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570321072442220546">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>In a video posted to his Twitter account, House Speaker John Boehner said the fight to approve Keystone was far from over.</p>
<p>"You know, the President says he's for the middle class, and he's for more jobs, but then he turns around and vetoes the Keystone pipeline," he said. "You have to wonder: What's he thinking?"</p>
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The fight is not over on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> pipeline. VIDEO: <a href="http://t.co/ce8XEz1Yn0">http://t.co/ce8XEz1Yn0</a> </p>— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570359843174789120">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>Environmentalists quickly hailed the decision, but they urged the administration to issue a final ruling that the project would exacerbate the impacts of climate change and is therefore not in the national interest.</p>
<p>"We're glad the president vetoed this cynical, politically-motivated stunt," Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network said. "However, a veto on its own is not enough. This movement has fought for years to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and we will accept nothing less than a final rejection. Keystone XL miserably fails the climate test, and if President Obama wants to be remembered as a leader on climate, his only option is rejection."</p>
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I may just watch this clip of the official veto of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeystoneXL?src=hash">#KeystoneXL</a> bill on repeat all day: <a href="http://t.co/63aXAj4MY5">http://t.co/63aXAj4MY5</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoKXL?src=hash">#NoKXL</a> </p>— David Turnbull (@david_turnbull) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570325065507536896">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>International diplomats have set a December deadline for securing an international climate agreement aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Against this backdrop, climate activists have emphasized the hypocrisy of pledging to confront global warming, while enabling expanded fossil fuel use, should Obama approve the bill.</p>
<p>"Signing the Keystone XL legislation would have sent the wrong signal to international leaders looking to deliver a new global climate pact in Paris later this year, and undercut our nation's ability to drive progress toward that goal," said Todd Shelton, vice president for US government relations at the World Wildlife Fund. "The US must continue to exert strong leadership in charting a course to a future powered by clean, renewable energy rather than dirty and dangerous fossil fuels."</p>
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Obama to unions: drop dead I work for environmentalists. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KXL?src=hash">#KXL</a> </p>— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570287474372694017">February 24, 2015</a>
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Veto celebration banners converging on the white house! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoKXL?src=hash">#NoKXL</a> <a href="http://t.co/PV40dIhCs1">pic.twitter.com/PV40dIhCs1</a> </p>— Jason Kowalski (@JasonK350) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/570342060508590080">February 24, 2015</a>
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<p>But just as environmentalists began to celebrate outside the the White House, administration spokesperson Josh Earnest ensured continued speculation over the ultimate fate of the pipeline.</p>
<p>When asked if the Obama administration might approve the pipeline following its executive branch review, Earnest <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/02/24/earnest_certainly_is_possible_obama_will_approve_keystone_pipeline.html" target="_blank">said</a>: "That possibility still does exist."</p>
<p><a href="https://news.vice.com/article/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-legislation-but-white-house-says-approval-still-possible"><em>Toxic Waste in the US: Coal Ash</em>. Watch the VICE News documentary.</a></p>
<p><em>Follow Robert S. Eshelman on Twitter: </em><a href="https://twitter.com/RobertSEshelman" target="_blank">@RobertSEshelman</a></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/where-the-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-went-2014-11" >Here's where all the oil from the deepwater horizon spill went</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoed-the-keystone-pipeline-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/end-fall-demise-mayan-civilization-new-evidence-2015-1">Scientists Discovered What Actually Wiped Out The Mayan Civilization</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline billhttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 20:45:00 -0500Josh Lederman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54ed27e169bedd6d518b4569-1200-924/keystone-xl-pipeline.jpg" border="0" alt="Keystone XL pipeline"></p><p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency.</p>
<p>Obama offered no indication of whether he'll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, whose construction has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmental policy and climate change. Instead, Obama sought to reassert his authority to make the decision himself, rebuffing GOP lawmakers who will control both the House and Senate for the remainder of the president's term.</p>
<p>"The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously," Obama said in a brief notice delivered to the Senate. "But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people."</p>
<p>Obama vetoed the bill in private with no fanfare, in contrast to the televised ceremony Republican leaders staged earlier this month when they signed the bill and sent it to the president. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans were "not even close" to giving up the fight and derided the veto as a "national embarrassment."</p>
<p>The move sends the politically charged issue back to Congress, where Republicans haven't shown they can muster the two-thirds majority in both chambers needed to override Obama's veto. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, the bill's chief GOP sponsor, said Republicans are about four votes short in the Senate and need about 11 more in the House.</p>
<p>Although the veto is Obama's first since Republicans took control on Capitol Hill, it was not likely to be the last. GOP lawmakers are lining up legislation rolling back Obama's actions on health care, immigration and financial regulation that Obama has promised to similarly reject.</p>
<p>"He's looking at this as showing he still can be king of the hill, because we don't have the votes to override," Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a vocal opponent of Obama's climate change agenda, said in an interview. "If he vetoed this, he's going to veto many others that are out there."</p>
<p>First proposed more than six years ago, the Keystone XL pipeline project has sat in limbo ever since, awaiting a permit required by the federal government because it would cross an international boundary. The pipeline would connect Canada's tar sands with refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast that specialize in processing heavy crude oil.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Republicans and the energy industry say the $8 billion project would create jobs, spur growth and increase America's independence from Mideast energy sources. Democrats and environmental groups have sought to make the pipeline a poster child for the type of dirty energy sources they say are exacerbating global warming.</span></p>
<p>For his part, Obama says his administration is still weighing the pipeline's merits, and he has repeatedly threatened to veto any attempts by lawmakers to make the decision for him.</p>
<p>Environmental groups said they were confident Obama's veto was a prelude to a full rejection of the pipeline. But TransCanada, the company proposing the pipeline, said it "remains fully committed" to building. And the Canadian government said it was not a matter of if, but when.</p>
<p>The GOP-controlled House passed the bill earlier in February on a 270-152 vote, following weeks of debate and tweaks in the Senate to insert language stating that climate change is real and not a hoax. Republican leaders in Congress delayed sending the bill to the White House until they returned from a weeklong recess, ensuring they would be on hand to denounce the president when he vetoed the bill.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/518c19d56bb3f79b1f00000a-1200-858/ap12060612858.jpg" border="0" alt="John Boehner Mitch McConnell smile"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The veto forced Republicans, still reveling in their dramatic gains in the midterm elections, to confront the limitations of being unable to turn their ideas into law without the president's consent - despite the fact they now control both chambers of Congress.</span></p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate would start the process to try to override Obama's veto by March 3. Republicans were also considering inserting Keystone into other critical legislation dealing with energy, spending or infrastructure that Obama would be less likely to veto, said Hoeven.</p>
<p>Obama last wielded his veto power in October 2010, nixing a relatively mundane bill dealing with recognition of documents notarized out of state. With the Keystone bill, Obama's veto count stands at just three - far fewer than most of his predecessors. Yet his veto threats have been piling up rapidly since Republicans took full control of Congress, numbering more than a dozen so far this year.</p>
<p>The president has said he won't approve Keystone if it's found to significantly increase U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. A State Department analysis found that the tar sands would be developed one way or another, meaning construction of the pipeline wouldn't necessarily affect emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month called for that analysis to be revisited, arguing that a drop in oil prices may have altered the equation.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1The Oil Crash Is Making The Keystone XL Pipeline Irrelevanthttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1
Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:01:17 -0500Andrew Topf
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/547f2ad96bb3f7287aa0d999-1200-858/rtr4efwe.jpg" border="0" alt="keystone xl"></p><p>On Monday the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Keystone+Pipeline" target="_self" title="Title: Keystone Pipeline" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Keystone XL pipeline</a>&nbsp;project crossed another hurdle when legislation approving construction of the proposed line to connect Canadian oil sands crude with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Gulf+Coast" target="_self" title="Title: Gulf Coast" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Gulf Coast</a>&nbsp;refineries was passed by the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Senate" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Senate" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">United States Senate</a>.</p>
<p>The bill sailed through 63 votes to 32 in the Senate, which is now in the hands of the Republicans following November mid-term elections, along with the House of Representatives, which passed the same Keystone legislation last week.</p>
<p>With the bill well on its way to becoming law, it will up to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Barack+Obama" target="_self" title="Title: Barack Obama" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">President Obama</a>&nbsp;to decide on whether or not to veto it, a decision he has held off for six years. Obama has criticized the project as adding to greenhouse gas emissions, despite an environmental assessment to the contrary by the<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Department+of+State" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Department of State" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">State Department</a>&nbsp;released a year ago, and because he argues it would help Canadian producers to deliver crude for export, against the claims of the proponent,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/TransCanada+Corporation" target="_self" title="Title: TransCanada Corporation" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">TransCanada Corp</a>, which maintains the oil will be processed in US refineries and consumed domestically.</p>
<p>While the political machinations of Keystone, with all the horse trading it inevitably entails, certainly make for some excellent headlines, an equally pressing question is whether the project is even viable with today's oil prices, which dropped further on Monday to below $46 a barrel in North America.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The rationale for Keystone was a way to bring together booming US oil production, and to a lesser extent, production from the oil sands in Northern Alberta, to Gulf Coast refineries that were facing declining imports from Mexico and Venezuela. The project was first proposed in 2008 and was supposed to begin carrying 830,000 barrels a day in 2012.</span></p>
<p>But the market didn't wait for the pipeline to be built, and landlocked Canadian crude has found its way to Texas and Louisiana refineries by rail instead. Canadian oil exports by rail tripled to a record 182,000 barrels a day in the third quarter, according to Canada's National Energy Board. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/United+States" target="_self" title="Title: United States" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">United States</a>&nbsp;has also been importing Canadian oil like gangbusters, showing that the trade will happen with or without the pipeline extension (Keystone XL is an addition to the existing pipeline). Data from the US Energy Department showed US imports of Canadian crude reached a record 3.1 million barrels a day in September.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/546c94f869bedd904152ca22-1200-1128/cd-49.jpg" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">So with some of the project's goals already being met, in terms of increased production flowing from&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Canada" target="_self" title="Title: Canada" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Canada</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;to the US, the question has become, why is a pipeline needed anymore? And now, with the oil price down more than 50 percent since June, Canadian production is certain to fall, lessening demand for oil transportation and thus casting doubt on the economics of the project according to observers.</span></p>
<p>“Right now with oil prices down and a glut of oil on the global marketplace, the answer is no, we don’t need Keystone right now,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/01/07/3430642_congress-ready-to-pass-keystone.html?rh=1" target="_self">told</a>&nbsp;a reporter from the San Luis Obispo Tribune last week.</p>
<p>Some are predicting low oil prices could delay the project even if Obama passes it, or it could be shelved altogether.</p>
<p>Chris Lafakis, an energy economist for Moody's Analytics,&nbsp;<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/economics-no-longer-makes-keystone-153213747.html" target="_self">equated</a>&nbsp;the situation with Keystone to an earlier proposal to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska to the Midwest. Despite being approved by then-<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Sarah+Palin" target="_self" title="Title: Sarah Palin" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Governor Sarah Palin</a>, the pipeline was never built due to new gas supplies which pushed prices down by two-thirds. "If oil were to stay as cheap as it is right now, you might very well get that Palin pipeline scenario," Lafakis said.</p>
<p>Ironically, the low oil price could also be used as a justification by Obama to cancel Keystone, according to a low-price scenario envisioned by the State Department when it made the determination that constructing the pipeline wouldn't increase GHG emissions.</p>
<p>As&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/drop-in-oil-prices-could-give-obama-an-excuse-to-reject-keystone-xl/article22406025/" target="_self">reported by the Globe and Mail</a>, in its analysis the State Department concluded that with prices above $90 a barrel, approval of the pipeline wouldn't affect oil sands production because the oil would find its way to market anyway through more expensive means i.e. rail.</p>
<p>However with a lower oil price, the State Department concluded that the project would be more attractive to producers (about $8 per barrel less than by rail), leading them to boost production and thus increase emissions:</p>
<p>“Oil sands production is expected to be most sensitive to increased transport costs in a range of prices around $65 to $75 per barrel,” it said. “Assuming prices fell in this range, higher transportation costs could have a substantial impact on oil sands production levels … Prices below this range would challenge the supply costs of many projects, regardless of pipeline constraints, but higher transport costs could further curtail production.”</p>
<p>For its part, the company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, refuses to yield on its rationale for the pipeline. CEO Russ Girling told the Globe and Mail that lower crude prices make the project more attractive to producers both in Canada and the US, who are looking for the most cost-effective way to transport oil to refineries.</p>
<p>Further, Girling pointed out that low prices haven't reduced the need for the pipeline either. “On the contrary, TransCanada has 100 per cent of its original contracts still in place and producers are keen to reduce their transportation costs in order to increase per-barrel revenue, or netback,” the Globe reported on Sunday.</p>
<p>It would certainly be ironic if after six years of delay, rhetoric and political maneuvering, what really kills Keystone XL is the oil price, not Obama nor the environmental movement that has lobbied so hard against the project.</p>
<p>Whether or not the pipeline is passed by the White House, it appears that the economics of Keystone XL are just as muddy as its politics.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-oil-crash-is-making-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-irrelevant-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1Obama Could Use Keystone To Strike A Big Environmental Deal http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:29:36 -0500Jared Gilmour
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51f80c79ecad046e25000013-1200-924/rtx1255i.jpg" border="0" alt="Barack Obama Keystone XL speech"></p><p>There’s one place where&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Keystone+Pipeline" target="_self" title="Title: Keystone Pipeline" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">Keystone XL</a>&nbsp;supporters and opponents seem to agree: It’s time for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/Barack+Obama" target="_self" title="Title: Barack Obama" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">President Obama</a>&nbsp;to decide on the country’s most famous (or infamous) energy infrastructure proposal.</p>
<p>Backers and detractors alike have called for the administration to approve or reject the oil sands project throughout its six years of delays, but now pressure on the White House is mounting. A recent decision by the Nebraska Supreme Court puts the ball largely in the president’s court, and a newly-minted Republican Congress is eager to take matters into its own hands.</p>
<p>The GOP-controlled Senate began debate on its Keystone XL approval bill Monday, even though Obama has already promised to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2015/0106/Is-cheap-oil-behind-Obama-s-promise-to-veto-Keystone-XL-bill-video" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">veto</span></a>&nbsp;the legislation so his administration can continue deliberation. Technically, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/topic/U.S.+Department+of+State" target="_self" title="Title: U.S. Department of State" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow">State Department</a>&nbsp;must issue a statement declaring whether or not the pipeline would serve the national interest, but analysts say Obama can make a decision whenever he wants. The Senate has the votes to pass its Keystone XL bill in coming weeks, meaning Obama is the only roadblock for pipeline backers. And it seems everyone is urging Obama to make a decision – from pro-industry supporters, to anti-Keystone environmentalists.</p>
<p>The Senate’s action, which aims to force Obama’s hand, comes after&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0109/Keystone-XL-takes-two-steps-closer-to-Obama-s-desk-video" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">the controversial pipeline moved two steps closer to approval</span></a>&nbsp;last week. The House passed its own bill approving the project, and the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit challenging its route through the state.</p>
<p>“It's time for the president to put an end to this damn thing,”&nbsp;<a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/keystone-xl-landowner-lawsuit-tossed-145035588.html" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">said</span></a>&nbsp;Randy Thompson, a Nebraska landowner and lead plaintiff in the court case against Keystone XL.</p>
<p>President Obama has said he will only approve the pipeline if he finds that it will not “significantly exacerbate” climate change caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The 1,179-mile pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta, North Dakota, and Montana to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Because the route crosses the US-Canada border, it requires State Department approval.</p>
<p>But some&nbsp;<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0812/Keystone-XL-first-on-a-Republican-Senate-s-to-do-list" target="_self"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">experts have said Keystone XL’s impact on the climate would be a drop in the bucket in the context of global emissions</span></a>. With that in mind, it’s possible Obama could use Keystone XL as a bargaining chip with Republicans – either to advance his carbon-cutting climate agenda elsewhere, or on some other compromise with the new, GOP-led Congress.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-could-use-keystone-to-strike-a-big-environmental-deal-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-vows-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill-2015-1White House Vows To Veto Keystone Pipeline Billhttp://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-vows-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill-2015-1
Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:39:00 -0500Colin Campbell
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54ac287feab8eae210cf6c1d-600-/transcanada-keystone-oil-pipeline-4.png" border="0" alt="transcanada keystone oil pipeline" width="600"></p><p>The White House revealed on Tuesday that President Barack Obama would veto congressional legislation to create the Keystone XL Pipeline.</p>
<p>"I can confirm for you that if this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn't sign it," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news/white-house-obama-likely-to-veto-keystone-pipeline-380636739765">told reporters</a> during his daily media briefing.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Republicans took full control of Congress this week and vowed to make the legislation a priority.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The first item up in the new Senate will be the Keystone XL pipeline," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/16/keystone-pipeline_n_6336576.html">promised</a> new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Keystone bill previously failed in a high-profile showdown at the end of last year. Although a number of Democrats supported the bill, it did not achieve enough votes to overcome a filibuster.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Obama, a longtime critic of the pipeline, has repeatedly dismissed the argument that the Keystone project will create jobs. At <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/19/obama-says-keystone-pipeline-helps-canadian-oil-companies-at-expense-americans/">a December press conference</a>, Obama said the pipeline would mostly benefit Canadian oil companies, and was not "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">a magic formula to what ails the US economy."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Environmental advocates immediately cheered the White House's announcement.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"This is a tribute to the millions of people who have made this one of the center pieces of a fast growing climate movement," said Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, which has passionately opposed the pipeline. "So far their desire to protect the land and climate have been a match for the fountains of dirty money that constitute the oil industry’s only real argument."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
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